


bitter fish

by Anonymous



Category: Klaus (2019)
Genre: Denial of Feelings, F/M, M/M, Mutually Unrequited, dont expect top notch krum and ellingboe writing because everything goes into mogva and klausper, everyone thinks alva n jesper are an item, klaus knows the truth...kinda, klausper on the side, there will be angst, yall know that aint facts tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25659958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: The oddly complicated love story of a snarky, asshole ferryman and a teacher turned fishmonger turned teacher again (ft. a spoiled little rich boy postman and a woodsman with a heart larger than himself).
Relationships: Alva & Jesper Johanssen, Alva & Mogens (Klaus 2019), Alva/Mogens, Jesper Johanssen/Klaus, Klaus/Lydia (Klaus 2019)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18
Collections: Anonymous





	bitter fish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was inspired by a tumblr post where famous klausper author kitlaurie contributed. her works are good, you oughta check 'em out sometime. anyway, i partially blame tumblr for making me ship mogva--and klausper to a lesser extent but nearly everyone ships that--so have this.
> 
> i cant write the krum and ellingboe feud so expect most of the good dialogue to come from alva and mogens. and klaus and jesper but that comes in later on. i use the tag slow burn as in "slow burn" with midquotes because i have no idea how to write a slow romance, but i'll do what i can. 
> 
> since canon doesn't explain where alva came from other than that she ain't from smeerensburg, i had to fill in the blanks by having her come from a scandinavian country, akin to jesper. there may be moments where the characters speak their respective native tongues but that'll be a minimum most likely. anyways enjoy i guess

Alva is, oh, about twenty-two when Mogens delivers her to Smeerensburg. She’s just graduated from a university in Stockholm, and she’s rambling on about how she can’t wait to see what Smeerensburg is like, can’t wait to start teaching, etc etc. She’s cute, sure, but too idealistic. 

A stupid girl getting her hopes up, Mogens thinks. As par of the course with most outsiders coming to Smeerensburg. They always think it’ll be Sunshine and Rainbows until they immediately are struck with the feud and hostile nature of the Krums and Ellingboes, and of course being the stupid outsiders, they dive head first into the conflict and get eaten alive. Little miss Alva is no different. Sure, she’s no postman, so she’s got _some_ chance of not getting outright mauled to death, but she’s still going to get eaten up eventually by those bloodthirsty bastards. It’s sad, yes, but that’s life in Smeerensberg for ya. Mogens knows this, knows it all too well that he’s learned to adapt to it.

That’s why he pats her back, a bit rough for good measure, as she unboards the boat. “Good luck, pigeon,” he tells her. “You’re gonna need it ‘cause those kids are quite rough.” It’s an understatement of the century, quite frankly, but somehow he can’t bring himself to be too brutal with her. She has these big eyes that shine so brightly as she looks at him, even as she rolls them. There’s this smile on her face, this inner charm and light within her that if this town weren’t full of such cruel folks, they’d fall for her instantly. She’s radiant and beautiful and hopeful, especially on the outside - an opposite of what he is.

“Thank you,” Alva says, giving him a small smile and nod. She heads out into town, unaware what’s about to arise. He treads behind her, quietly so she doesn’t notice - not because he’s concerned about her, no, but because he wants to watch it unfold. Sheer curiosity is partially his reasoning, another is because it’s usually amusing to see the poor new suckers get torn apart on their first day. Especially when they always do the same thing: ringing the bell.

But she doesn’t ring the bell. Instead, she asks a Krum nearby, "Excuse me, do you know where the mayor is?"

“Mayor? We have no mayors here,” the Krum man tells her. “If you’re looking for a leader, then it depends which side you’re on.”

“What do you mean by ‘side’?” Alva asks, tilting her head. 

The Krum man ignores her question. “Since you came to a Krum, I’ll take you to our matriarch,” he says, and he takes her hand and leads her to Ms. Tammy Krum, who is having a spat with Mr. Askel Ellingboe about god knows what. Their young children hang by their respective parents, so it’s probably something to do with them.

Of course, Mogens eavesdrops. This girl’s gonna learn the harsh truth, and he’s always been there to see how the previous folks before her learned the truth. He watches, sees her look between the Krum matriarch and the Ellingboe patriarch.

“So they sent us a teacher?” Ms. Krum asks, her nose crinkled up. 

“They’ve given us a break, at least,” Mr. Ellingboe mutters.

“Well, actually, I came here by myself,” Alva clarifies. “I wanted to start fresh somewhere, and I heard there was a small remote island in the Netherlands, so…I took the job.”

“Aww,” Ms. Krum fakes a saccharine tone. Her face then contorts into a glare. “You oughta have stayed home. As if a Krum would ever send their child to a school where an - an _Ellingboe_ child might be!”

“Oh yeah? Well no Ellingboe would wanna send their kids to school to put up with some stupid little _Krum_ spawn!” Mr. Ellingboe fires back.

“If you think my son will sit in the same room as your _pig_ of a daughter—”

“If _you_ think _my_ daughter would even be within five inches of your _idiot_ boy—”

“Your daughter can barely form a sentence!”

“Neither can your son!”

“You know what? Maybe we can talk about this tomorrow, sort things out,” Alva says as she takes a couple of steps back. “In the meantime, good bye. Have a nice day.”

And with that, she quickly walks away to an empty building and takes whatever luggage she can and unpacks it. She sets up the place real nice. Chalkboard is on the wall, facing a bunch of empty chairs and desks. Books are stacked on a shelf near her desk, and there's an empty jar on the top shelf. A sign hangs above the door outside, labelled _Smeerensburg Elementary School._ With that all done, she sits at the desk and waits. 

Parents pass by, both Krums and Ellingboes alike. A Krum man looks interested in sending his child to the school, yet when he sees an Ellingboe woman walk by with her own child in hand, his face contorts to disgust and he drags his child away in a huff. Moments later, an Ellingboe woman will be interesting in sending her child, but when she sees a Krum, her mind is instantly changed. This happens throughout the day, all until late afternoon.

Alva waits so long that her head rests on the desk in exhaustion and boredom. It isn't until Mogens peeks in and asks amusedly, "G'afternoon, Miss Alva. How was the first day on the job for ya?" that she raises her head to look at him.

She glares and says, "What are you so smug about?"

"Well I told you you'd need good luck," Mogens says as a matter-of-factly. "Quite the rough bunch." He gestures out the window and she looks, seeing Krums and Ellingboes tormenting each another in various ways.

"This is only the first day," Alva retorts. "Tomorrow morning, this room will be full of children and you'll be watching me instruct my first lesson." 

"Oh really?"

" _Really._ "

But by tomorrow morning, there's no sight of any children, Krum or Ellingboe. Neither are there any by the next morning, or the morning after that, or the morning after that morning. Eventually, weeks pass by and Alva slowly but surely grows tired of waiting. But just as Mogens is ready to say "told ya so", she surprises him. She faces the challenge and doesn’t ran away like the postmen, nor does she get sucked into the feud like any other foreigner living on the island. No, she pushes back. She becomes feral and determined. She's determined not just to get away but to _thrive_ when she does.

She starts working in the fish market. Each morning, she heads out to the docks with a handmade rod and hook and she fishes for as many fish as she can, bringing them back to the school-turned-butcher shop. It's a dirty job cutting the fishes up but it brings in dough and more dough means her chances of thriving when she leaves this shithole are higher, and that's what really matters. 

Of course she could just leave. She'd be poor, obviously, but a couple of pennies is enough to start from the bottom and work to the top at a different, safer and more pleasant area—maybe somewhere in Belgium or Germany. The fish trade isn't easy in Smeerensburg. The Krums and Ellingboes people love to swindle their foes, and prices change depending on the customer. She doesn’t scrape at the bottom of the barrel, oh no sir, she’s getting _good cash_. Staying in a grey area allows her not only to get products from all of them, but also sell her products to all of them. She’s determined to come back to Sweden not a broken china doll, but a victorious woman.

Mogens is impressed by this. She’s got quite the spunk and fire in her, that’s for damn sure. She came here all stupid and naive, but when shit hit the fan, she used wit and got herself in a nice spot - perhaps not ideal, but she makes do with what she has unlike other folks who’ve came before her. And when things get tough for her, she doesn’t give up like a docile, fragile sissy - she fights back. A feisty woman she is, and Mogens likes that. He likes that very much.

So it’s no surprise they form a friendship of sorts. Almost. It’s complicated. Once in a while he’ll come along and bring a drink or two, and they’ll sit for some time, mocking the locals and their insane behaviors. And these two are really smart people, attractive in their own raggedy ways and the only couple of folks in this mad place who aren’t stupid enough to get tangled in this useless feud between two inbred families. 

Of course things are bound to happen. Some form of attraction will come along, no doubt. And it does, on Mogens’ end. There’s just something about Miss Alva that’s so…alluring, in a sense. She’s got the outer beauty, yes, but there’s that inner beauty - a certain charm. It draws him in like a moth to a flame.

It’s funny, he thinks, because it’s him who doesn’t let this spark grow. He knows she wants to leave, and he doesn’t want to hold her back. His heart can’t take the damage, anyway, if he ever let himself go that far - to enter a relationship with this woman, this spitfire, and then get left behind because she _can’t_ stay here and she _won’t_ stay here. So he jokes and flirts, only for sarcasm, but keeps all possible non-platonic feelings he - might - have towards her under control; one of the reasons his visits aren’t that often. 

Alva tries to go further one time, the keyword being _tries._

It comes as a suggestion during one of his visits, their little hangouts as she prefers to call them. He’s drinking his brandy and poking fun at the crazy shenanigans the clan folk get into, and he makes this one remark: “It’s a good thing I met ya, ‘cause I was starting to think this place was gonna get overrun by these bitter inbreds, but then you came in and proved there’d be one sensible person besides me living here!”

“Aw, you flatter me, Mogens,” Alva says, holding a hand over her heart jokingly. 

“Who’da thunk a doe-eyed pretty little miss like you would come here?” Mogens jokes, yet the words still make her heart flutter.

“And who would’ve known we’d be here now, couple of friends having a nice little get together and drink?” she asks and holds up her glass up. “Toast?”

He lifts his glass. “To us!”

Alva clinks her mug against his and, with her heart in control, adds softly: “And what’ll become of us.”

Mogens is ready to drink from his glass again when he hears this, and he stops. “Alva,” he says, quietly. “You’re joking.”

“I’m not,” she says in a serious tone. “The future is uncertain, and many things between us can happen…”

He shakes his head. “No, that’s where you’re wrong.”

There’s a sting in her heart. “What do you mean?” she asks, her voice growing quiet.

“We can’t,” Mogens says simply. 

“Why not?” she asks, trying to hold back whatever emotions might spill over. She won’t cry, she won’t get upset. Not over him, not over anyone.

“Because it would never work,” he rebukes her, albeit in a soft manner that makes her heart ache all the more. “Think rationally, Alva. You and I, we - aren’t cut out for that.”

Her heart feels like it’s been stabbed with a thousand knives, but she fakes a laugh and says, “You’re right. Silly me.”

And after this, after being rebuked by a close friend she had begun to grow feelings for, her pride won’t let her try again. They hang around in this state of suspension - more than acquaintances, obviously, but less than something else; something deeper.

That is until postman Jesper comes around and changes everything for this entire town, along with help from Klaus, the woodsman who had kept to himself for all these years until now. An act of kindness can spark another, and that’s what Jesper’s acts do, even if he started out awkward - the children wanted to learn how to write so they could send letters to Klaus, so Alva’s school reopened and she finally got to teach. As for Mogens, Jesper’s acts showed him he could still care and that was perfectly fine. The acts of kindness the children subsequently perform gradually inspired the rest of the townsfolk to end their ancient disputes, and over the course of the chase that ensued when Jesper tried to stop the elder from destroying what he presumed to be presents but were actually just decoys, Mr. Ellingboe’s daughter and Mrs. Krum’s son fell in love.

Jesper now lives in his own little postal office, and he and Klaus deliver presents to the children of Smeerensburg every year - and beyond - and with the budding romance of Pumpkin and Olaf, the Krums and Ellingboes’ feud has been settled. Everything is peaceful now, nearly perfect in every way possible.

_Almost._

At times, Mogens sees Alva and Jesper talking and it’s no longer the confrontational spouts she’s had with the postman in the past - no, it’s friendly conversations, _too friendly._ Mogens drops by more frequently and when Jesper is around, he notices the signs. He notices how Alva acts and talks to the postman and it’s a sudden reverse, it’s like _she’s_ rebuking _him_ now.

Sure, they still hang out but when he tries bringing Jesper up, her voice grows soft and he’s left with a bitter taste in his mouth as he realizes … he’s losing his chance, and it’s all on him for not jumping at it sooner when she was trying to go further with _him._

And it’s funny, because he rebuked her so that neither of them would be hurt and yet, now he’s the one that’s hurt.

 _Oh the irony,_ he thinks bitterly as he brings the brandy to his lips. _Sweet, sweet irony._

And yet, her heart still burns a little even now. Her relationship with Jesper is budding, yet she still thinks of that one time she tried to go further with Mogens - she still thinks about him in general and what could be and wonders if it’s not too late to try again, but then she remembers his words and her pride refuses. 

Yet the thought still stays in her head, especially as Jesper brings up Klaus a lot, and uses quite a few words one normally wouldn’t say about a close friend. She’s seen them together before, how they grow bashful around one another and the way they talk and - they’re not just friends, and she knows it. She knows Jesper doesn’t see her the same way he does with Klaus, and that’s ok. 

She’ll manage being alone. It’s what she’s always done.


End file.
